A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Shock after shock as states went red and Don ran off with Hill’ s‘ certain’ victory
T HE dramatic 2016 presidential election that saw Donald Trump win the White House wasn’t called until early in the morning following Election Day — and the results stunned the pollsters and pundits, nearly all of whom predicted that Hillary Clinton had a clear path to victory.
The first projections came in as expected, with Trump taking Indiana and Kentucky, while Clinton won Vermont.
But her “clear path” became murkier as the night progressed, with Trump winning Ohio, the first swing state that went for the Republican.
At 10:53 p.m., Team Trump got a major boost as he captured Florida and its 29 electoral votes.
At about 11:15, he picked off North Carolina, dealing another blow to Clinton, who had polled well in the state.
Just after 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 9, he took Pennsylvania, and victory was in sight. Clinton, who held a rally in Philadelphia with President Barack Obama that Monday night, had banked on winning the Keystone State.
With Pennsylvania in his column, Trump had 264 of the necessary 270 electoral votes, and was leading in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, any of which would make him president.
Clinton campaign manager John Podesta refused to concede.
But at 2:30 a.m., Trump was called the winner in Wisconsin with its 10 electoral votes.
Minutes later, Clinton called Trump to congratulate him.
Trump finally spoke to supporters at the New York Hilton at about 2:50 a.m.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, complicated business. Thank you very much,” he said before congratulating Clinton and vowing to be “a president for all Americans.”